The modern canoe is a descendant of the Native American birchbark canoe and is characterized by a completely open top defined by the edge gunnels located on the top margin of the hull. Advantages to this open arrangement versus a closed-top deck boat or kayak are several: freedom of seating and movement by the occupant. Also cargo items can be carried and openly accessed in an open canoe. In addition, ease of entry and egress, in and out of the canoe, is facilitated. However, there is one obvious disadvantage inherent in the open-top canoe as compared to the relatively waterproof top deck of the kayak. That disadvantage is the susceptibility to taking on water from the topside which, in sufficient quantities, can swamp and sink the canoe or in less quantities can dampen and wet cargo.
Wet conditions manifest themselves in a variety of boating environments on such bodies of water as rivers, lakes, and coastal wet lands. Churning rivers, especially "whitewater" situations can readily lead to a swamped boat or, at least wet gear, in an open-canoe configuration. Also large waves can be occasioned, in even normally placid lakes, by quickly occurring storms, wind, or by wakes from power boats.
Thus an owner of an open-top canoe may frequently want to render his boat more uniformly seaworthy and watertight in the top dimension, above the gunwales, by employing a wave/spray cover to protect his/her gear and the boat. It is an object of the invention to provide a readily fabricated and readily removable cover having an attachment means that enables the cover to be applied to the canoe without custom fitting and sewing.
The question arises, "why buy a canoe when a kayak will solve the aforementioned `sea-worthiness problems.`" It's true that a kayak, with its solid over-deck and spray-skirt adapted cockpit, largely solve the problem of excess water coming in from the top; however, at great cost in terms of occupant mobility, comfort, and freedom as well as cargo capacity and accessibility. U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,480 discloses an improved spray skirt retainer for fitting around the cockpit of a kayak rendering a kayak as nearly impervious to water in an inverted deck-down position as it is in an upright floating position. However there is a danger that the occupant of a kayak may have trouble pulling out from the waist-size cockpit aperture when the kayak is trapped or jammed in an inverted position and cannot readily be "rolled over" by using the paddle.
U.S Pat. No. 4,520,747 addresses this problem for providing a means whereby an egress panel in the deck is deployed allowing the kayak navigator to raise his/her knees from a sitting position and more readily escape the inverted boat. The current invention also addresses the expedited egress problem in the canoe covering adaptation by allowing the wave/spray skirt to be quickly detached.
In addition other fastening means, elaborated in the prior art, have specific structural and functional limitations. The bulbous fastening device in U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,480 requires specific sewing and custom-cover accommodations. A gripping apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,055 does not enable a secure, interlocking grip of the cover that locks the cover in dual or triple tracks. The cover must be secure against stress of "whitewater" or other situations where tension may affect the lock Further, the fabric is easily stretched over the middle rail and the top locked thereover.
Other traditional canoe cover attachment schemes have heretofore remained problematical in their ability to adapt an open-top canoe to a more "sea worthy" embodiment.
Perhaps the most prevalent cover attachment means currently in use are snaps and cord type fasteners. A distinct disadvantage of the aforementioned is they must be adapted by cutting, sewing, and otherwise modifying a, now, custom cover unlike the current invention. Male attachment means and anchors for snaps, cords, and Velcro are commonly pop riveted or adhesive-fastened to the hull below the gunwale. The "pin point" pull of the aforementioned plurality of common cover anchors is contrasted with the even, tight, tensioning of the current invention's rail type fastening modality. An even, bilateral pull across the top of a canoe makes for a tighter more utilitarian fit over either the open interior space defined by the gunwales or over tall cargo stacked above said gunwales.
Another commonly extant attachment means for fastening canoe coverings is an elastic cord that stretches around the boat, both under and parallel to the gunwales holding, and loosely fastening, said cover against the upper hull. This elastic cord frequently is not uniform or tight enough to effect a desirable cover, particularly under sometimes violent "whitewater" conditions. The current invention strikes a perfect balance between taut positive cover tension under normal operating conditions with a quick release option occasioned by a sharp pull under emergency conditions where it is desirable to remove the cover.
In summary, the present invention is a cover attachment means whereby a canoe can be covered simply and economically by the owner without necessitating costly custom fabricating and sewing to fit. Also this novel fastening and cover means can adapt to a plurality of environments used in a variety of fashions to cover and protect specific cargo.
The current invention in its preferred embodiment consists broadly of a rail system that is a stack of three specially adapted members or components, the top two of which mechanically grip a sheet-type covering in a three-way grip. A plurality of T-shaped male nodes trap and conform the continuous edge of a covering into expandable female receiving cavities integral to the bottom of the outermost rail component. The cover fabric is captured as the expandable top rail, which includes an enlarged T-node is pressed over the two parallel T-nodes which protrude out from the middle rail. The boat covering is held uniformly taut by the bilateral pull of opposite sets of fastening rails. A bottom base rail attaches the aforementioned cover-grasping rails to the upper outside wall of the hull just below the gunwales. A permanent attachment means of the rail base component is effected by bolts, pins, long-lasting adhesive or the like to the upper outer hull.
It is an objective of the invention to obviate the need for sewing, cutting, or otherwise fitting and adapting the cover fabric to variously sized and styled custom canoes or other boats, whereby the alternative of buying pre-cut and fitted dedicated covers for each size and type of canoe is limited by high cost and scarce supply.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an even, uniform "pull" or tension over the entire body of the covering fabric, holding it in a multiple gripping lock. This avoids the tearing, stretching, or puckering problems often associated with many "pin-point" fastening schemes and apparatus in use today.
It is still another objective of the invention to provide a general purpose cover and fastening device that can be used for, but is not limited to: pick-up truck cover fastening apparatus; camping cover adaptations; automobile and trailer covering fastenings; stored power boat cover fastening; door openings; and the like.